The fact of the matter is that the piece of software having a vulnerability is not much of an issue as much as companies, like Lenovo, can agree on selling computers with adware preinstalled on new devices. It really feels that we don’t even have a chance to make mistakes on the internet to get our system infected, as new computers already come infected from factory. Although, Lenovo admitted back in January that included a Superfish software on every consumer PC and it has already discontinued the program, it doesn’t make it right. Even worse, after the computer manufacturer company discontinued its partnership, there are still a lot of PCs in homes running the software with the risk of people having their data bridged. Now, it seems that it is only up to you and no one else to keep your computer safe, as you can’t even trust your computer manufacturer. With this information in mind, today I want to share a tip that every Windows PC owner should use as normal procedure on every new computer, and that is erasing completely the hard drive, install a clean version of Windows and creating a recovery partition, if you don’t want to go through the clean installation process twice.
Download Windows 8.1 for free
As a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 user, you are able to download the ISO media of Windows 8.1 containing the installation files to reinstall the operating system free of charge. You can follow the instructions on how to download the Windows 8.1 ISO file here.
Download device drivers
Also before installing the operating system, it is a good idea that you visit your manufacturer website and download all the device drivers for your brand new computer. This is important, because sometimes Windows will not detect all the components in your PC, such as the network card, and without an internet connection, you won’t be able to continue using the device.
Perform a clean installation of Windows 8.1
Prior formatting your PC’s hard drive, it’s also a good idea to make a full backup of the system in case something goes wrong. In this previous how-to guide, I go with details on how to do this. Now that you have all the device drivers and you created a just in case backup of the system, you can proceed performing a clean installation of Windows 8.1, which will guarantee that the Superfish software will get removed, in this case, from your brand new Lenovo computer. Here are the instructions to perform a clean installation of Windows 8 (the instructions also work to install Windows 8.1).
Create a custom recovery partition
After the installation, you may also want to create a recovery partition to recover if something goes wrong with your system. In this previous how-to guide, I use a piece of software called AOMEI OneKey Recovery to create a custom recovery partition in Windows 10, but the instructions and software also work for Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and even Windows XP.
No more worries
Performing a clean installation of Windows 8.1 will not only guarantee that the Lenovo’s adware program will get removed from your system, but it also remove any other piece of software that may do the same damage or it is just occupying unnecessary space in your system’s hard drive. Just remember that after the installation, you’ll have to reinstall all the software you may want to use. Do you perform a clean installation of Windows on every new PC you buy? Tell us in the comments below. All content on this site is provided with no warranties, express or implied. Use any information at your own risk. Always backup of your device and files before making any changes. Privacy policy info.
